Riding the Raisina Tiger

Riding the Raisina Tiger - a Politico-military thriller about an Army Chief who decided to take things into his own hands. AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD ON 26 JAN ON OCCASION OF REPUBLIC DAY FROM https://www.amazon.com/Riding-Raisina-Tiger-Story-military-ebook/dp/B01ALCCNSS

Blogitorial

Click to read the article on Swordarm

Custom Search Engine - Scans Selected News Sites

Loading

Monday, 30 December 2013

India has started
equipping the newly raised specialised mountain strike corps aimed at
countering China. A set of six specialised aircraft aiding operations in
mountains have been ordered from the US while the case of acquiring specialized
attack helicopters and heavy lift copters have moved ahead in the Ministry of
Defence.

Orders have also
been issued to draw troops from existing units to raise the corps and replenish
the original regiments with new recruits over the next few years. The
appointment of the first Commander of the Corps - a Lieutenant General-rank
official - is in its final phase of administrative process. The CCS had cleared
the corps on July 17 allocating Rs 64,000 crore to be spent over the next
six-seven years. The 17 Strike Corps will be based at Panagarh in West Bengal.
It will have two divisions, one located near Panagarh in West Bengal and the
other in the foothills of Himlayas at Pathankot in Punjab. Both locations are
near important ingress routes. A division will have around 20,000 men.

As a first step,
New Delhi has ordered six more C-130J Super Hercules special operations
aircraft from the US under a $1.1 billion (around Rs 6,000 crore) deal.

These will be
delivered within three years and will be based at Panagarh. The IAF has a fleet
of six such planes based at Hindon - located 20 km east of New Delhi. The
Cabinet Committee on Security headed by the PM had cleared the purchase on
December 20. The “letter of offer and acceptance” was cleared under the US
government’s “foreign military sales” (FMS) route on Friday.

The plane has the
ability for special air operations and transport of material and supplies.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131230/nation.htm#12

CBI closes case
against Army ex-vice chief

New Delhi,
December 29

The CBI has closed
its case in an alleged land scam purportedly involving a defence property in
Pune Cantonment in which a ex-Army vice chief was named as accused.

The Mumbai branch
of the agency filed a closure report before a special CBI court saying it could
not find evidence which indicates the criminality of Lt Gen (retd) Nobel
Thamburaj.

The CBI had based
its probe on a complaint from the Defence Ministry, which had alleged that
defence land in Pune Cantonment was given to a private builder in violation of
norms. It was alleged that Thamburaj and Defence Estate Officer SR Nayyar had
favoured the builder.

CBI sources said
action was recommended against the accused as due process was not followed in
allotment of land to the builder but there was no criminality the case. Sources
said the agency could not find evidence of any quid pro quo that could have
benefited Thamburaj or Nayyar.

According to the
CBI, Thamburaj, who retired as vice chief in October 2009, and Nayyar had
allegedly shown undue favour to the builder for 0.96 acres property in defence
land at Pune Cantonment. "There was a dispute on regarding the property in
question. Thamburaj and Nayyar settled the matter out of court inspite of
several court orders given in favour of the Army. The duo indulged in gross
misconduct," the CBI had alleged.

The two officers
ignored rules and policies, violated the terms of lease entered into by the
Ministry of Defence and Kalpataru and caused the private company pecuniary
gains. — PTI

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131230/nation.htm#19

Army Chief interacts with ex-servicemen

Tribune News
Service

New Delhi,
December 29

Indian Army Chief
General Bikram Singh has had an interaction with ex-servicemen of Uttarakhand
to know how many of them had suffered during the June floods in the state and
to know first hand about the rehabilitation measures initiated by the Army.

A “Gaurav Senani
Rally” was held at Dehradun yesterday with the objective of reaching out to
ex-servicemen and listen to the issues concerning them, a press release said.
The rally was attended by 4,000 retired Armymen and war widows. Officials of
the state government, Rajya Sainik Board members, pension disbursement
authorities, defence placement cell personnel and soldiers records personnel
not only attended to the veterans’ queries but also provided detailed inputs on
new schemes for their betterment.

The Indian Army
Sunday said it had recovered a major haul of arms and ammunition from near the
Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district.

"Based on a
tip-off from reliable intelligence sources, a search operation was launched by
the vigilant troops deployed along the LoC in the Farkian Gali area of the
frontier Kupwara district yesterday (Saturday) resulting in the recovery of a
major haul of weapons.

"A total of
40 weapons including 20 AK-47 rifles, 20 pistols, magazines and ammunition
hidden one kilometre inside the LoC were recovered," a defence spokesman
said.

Inputs were being
received over last few days from sources about likely bids for infiltration or
pushing the arms across the LoC, he said.

"Accordingly,
troops were put on high alert and searches were carried out in the suspected areas.
Search operations undertaken yesterday led to the recovery of such a large
cache of arms and ammunition from a place which is between the LoC and the
anti-Infiltration Obstacles System (AIOS)," the spokesman added.

http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=228330

India, US ink $1b
deal for six Super Hercules aircraft

Sunday, December
29, 2013 - New Delhi—India and the US have inked another mega defence contract,
the $1.01 billion for six additional C-130J “Super Hercules” aircraft, while
some others are being finalized.

Indian Defence
ministry sources said the “letter of offer and acceptance” for the six new
four-engine C-130Js, which will be delivered within three years, was signed on
Friday under the US government’s “foreign military sales” (FMS) programme.

IAF already has
six C-130Js tactical airlift aircraft, ordered for $962 million in 2007, which
are based at the Hindon airbase on the outskirts of Delhi. The six new C-130Js,
also configured for “special operations” as the first six, will be based at
Panagarh in West Bengal.

Panagarh will also
house the headquarters of the new mountain strike corps, with a total of over
80,000 soldiers, being raised by the Army in a project worth around Rs 90,000
crore.

This new corps
will plug operational gaps along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) as
well as give “some serious ground offensive capabilities” against China for the
first time, Times of India said.

The rugged C-130J,
as also the bigger C-17 Globemaster-III strategic airlift aircraft acquired
from the US, can even land at a small forward airbase on a semi-prepared
runway. Crucial to counter China’s massive build-up of border infrastructure,
this capability was amply demonstrated when IAF landed a C-130J on the Daulat
Beg Oldi airstrip in eastern Ladakh, at an altitude of 16,614-feet just
seven-km from the LAC, in August this year.

The US has already
bagged deals close to $10 billion over the last decade in the lucrative Indian
defence market. The other deals on the anvil are the ones for 22 Apache attack
helicopters, 15 Chinook heavy-lift choppers, four P-8I maritime patrol aircraft
and 145 M-777 ultra-light howitzers, together worth another $4 billion or so.

“The CNC (contract negotiation
committee) for the Chinooks has completed its work, while the one for the
Apaches is on the verge of finalization. The M-777 howitzers’ contract was
stuck on the offsets proposal but is now being sorted out,” said a MoD source.

That’s not all. The US is also
in the contention for the over Rs 15,000 crore project to equip the 355
infantry battalions of the Indian Army with third-generation, shoulder-fired
anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs).

After the US initially created
roadblocks in the transfer of technology (ToT) for its “Javelin” ATGMs, India
had turned to the Israeli “Spike” ATGMs for the project, which will involve an
initial import of the tank-killing missiles followed by ToT to defence PSU
Bharat Dynamics for indigenous manufacture.

But the A K Antony-led Defence
Acquisitions Council (DAC) last month put on hold a decision on clearing the
Israeli case after the US offered a joint project to manufacture the
next-generation of ATGMs. “The MoD will consider both the American and Israeli
projects now and choose the one which suits India better,” said the
newspaper.—INP

New Delhi: The CBI
has closed its case in an alleged land scam purportedly involving a defence
property in Pune cantonment in which a former Army vice chief was named as
accused.

The Mumbai branch
of the agency filed a closure report before a special CBI court saying it could
not find evidence which indicates criminality of Lt Gen (retd) Nobel Thamburaj.

The agency had
based its probe on a complaint from the Defence Ministry which had alleged that
defence land in the Pune cantonment was given to a private builder in violation
of the norms.

It was alleged
that Thamburaj and Defence Estate Officer SR Nayyar had favoured the builder.
CBI sources said action was recommended against the accused as due process was
not followed in allotment of land to the builder but there was no criminality
the case.

Sources said the
agency could not find evidence of any quid pro quo which could have benefited
Thamburaj or Nayyar.

According to the
CBI FIR, Thamburaj, who retired as Vice Chief in October 2009, and Nayyar had
allegedly shown undue favour to the builder for a property measuring 0.96 acres
in Defence Land at Pune Cantonment.

"There was a
dispute going on regarding the property in question. Thamburaj and Nayyar
settled the matter out of court in spite of several court orders given in
favour of the Army. The duo indulged in gross misconduct," CBI had
alleged.

The two officers
ignored rules and policies, violated the terms of lease entered into by the
Ministry of Defence and Kalpataru and caused the private company pecuniary
gains of about Rs 46 crore, it claimed.